Saturday, 30 August 2014

Yesterday’s edition of The Citizen featured a photograph depicting a hectic scene at Mwanza port, as cargo was being off-loaded from MV Victoria. The thrust of its caption was the fear that the ship was too old and slow to function properly – a fear that, in our opinion, is wholly justified.

The 18th anniversary of MV Bukoba’s sinking, 30 nautical miles (53 kilometres) off Mwanza was marked on May 21, 2014. An estimated 1,000 people perished in Tanzania’s worst maritime disaster so far.

Experts and extra-observant lay persons remarked that it was an accident waiting to happen, citing shortcomings like overloading, inadequacy of life jackets, lack of periodic maintenance and regular inspection of equipment.

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

The completion schedule of a project to rehabilitate Mwanza Airport has been interrupted due to government failure to deliver funds to the contractor in time.

This is the second project in Mwanza Region to be disrupted due to financial problems after the construction of Usagara-Kisesa road stopped following a delay by the ministry of Works to compensate villagers who were supposed to be evacuated to pave the way for its expansion.

It was reported that apart from failing to compensate the villagers, the ministry was yet to pay the road contractor, Nyanza Road Works, some Sh4 billion for the completed part of the project.

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

SOS Children’s Villages Tanzania in collaboration with Montage Tanzania aims to raise Sh1.2 billion to help support parental care and the wellbeing of children in the country.

SOS National Director, Anatoli Rugaimukamu told reporters end of this week in Dar es Salaam that the fundraising campaign to be carried out in the organisations four village centers of Mwanza, Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar will also help to support children threatened of losing parental care.

He said the theme of the campaign “Care for me, your contribution can achieve a Solution” is set to reach as many children as possible who are in need of shelter, health and education. “Our mission is to build families for children in need, help them shape their own future and take part in the development of their communities, “he said.

Monday, 25 August 2014

Striking Mwanza traders who threatened to close shop indefinitely have resumed work two days after the strike started.

The Chairman of the Traders Union Christopher Wambura (photo) said over the weekend that they had decided to call off the strike after the city council authority agreed to work on their demands.

“However, we have given them three weeks to work on our demands short of that we will resume the strike and this time we would not listen to anybody,” he threatened.

Wambura said in their meeting with the city council it was resolved that waste levy that was 15,000/- would be reduced to 8,000/- and trucks would now be allowed to offload at night which was previously prohibited.

“Fee for toilet facilities is to be reduced to 200/- from 300/- per,” Wambura said.

Sunday, 24 August 2014

Mwanza. The Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda, has tasked the Mwanza Regional Commissioner, Mr Evarist Ndikilo, to make sure that no one invades the area reserved for expansion of the airport.

Speaking when inspecting the expansion of the airport project, Mr Pinda said the government would not like to be subjected to a situation where it would be required to compensate people who had invaded the area.

The project to expand Mwanza airport is supervised by Engineering and Contraction (Unetec) from United Arab Emirates as consultant. The project started in 2012 and is expected to be completed at the end of this year at the cost of Sh105 billion. Out of the amount the government has dished out Sh85 billion.

MWANZA. The construction of Usagara-Kisesa road has been suspended following the delay by the ministry of Works to compensate the villagers who are supposed to vacate their land for the project.

It is understood that apart from the compensation the ministry had also not paid the contractor, Nyanza Road Works, more than Sh3.8 billion for the completed construction work due to financial constraints.

Out of Sh922.8 million that the ministry was supposed to compensate the villagers only Sh133 million was paid while the contractor had only been paid Sh173 million out of Sh4 billion after completing the construction of 8 kilometres.

Saturday, 23 August 2014

Shops remained closed for a second day running yesterday as traders continued with their protests
here against imposition and alleged harassment by city authorities.

Plea by the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), Mwanza chapter to open the shops as city authorities continued to work on their demands met a deaf ear as the traders stuck to their guns.

Early in the morning yesterday TCCIA officials using a public communication system went around the Central Business District’s streets appealing to traders to open their businesses but not a single shop was opened on the day.

City council officials and the traders’ representatives locked themselves up in the city hall to discuss the issue but until we went to press the standoff still remained as there was no solution in sight.

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Activities in the Central Business District of Mwanza came to a grinding halt yesterday barely a day after this paper published a story about intent by the city traders to close their shop indefinitely.

Mwanza is the biggest market among the Lake zone regions and also serves as a major trade hub for neighboring countries but the strike, protesting tax imposition and alleged harassment by city authorities has brought business there to an absolute standstill leaving consumers stranded.

Commenting, a trader, one Mukeshi Vunja said they are tired of being harassed by city militia who vandalize their stores, intimidate the owners and illegally confiscate goods in the pretext of enforcing taxation laws and licensing orders.

Vunja said that sometimes the city militia confiscate even their customers’ goods and force them made to pay huge fines to recover them.

Sunday, 17 August 2014

Mwanza. Four people died and two others were seriously injured in a landslide caused by downpour at Mabatini suburb on Friday night.

Speaking on the scene of the landslide, Nyerere A Street chairman Hassan Maulid said that during the rainfall a heavy rock fell from the nearby hill and knocked another rock which rolled down, crushing houses along its path.

He said people who were killed were in houses belonging to Mr Joseph William and Mr Lameck Samson.

He named those who lost their lives as Kelfine Masalu and Emmanuel Joseph, both members of Mr William’s family and Sai Ochieng and his wife Kwinta Ngwenko whose four-year-old child was slightly injured.

Friday, 15 August 2014

At the heart of Mwanza on the southern shores of Lake Victoria, two modern buildings, one along Kenyatta Road, and the other one located at the junction of Kenyatta and Post roads, grace the country second largest city.

They are both owned by the two of the country’s hugest pension funds, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and Parastatal Pensions Fund (PPF).

These two buildings, which cost roughly $40 million, have one thing in common: they were built by Chinese construction companies eight years ago. But, the financing wasn’t a loan from China - it was money locally raised through monthly contributions from men and women who work in both private and public sectors.

Along the Makongoro Road, on the highway to Mwanza Airport, to the left, there’s an ongoing construction of a multimillion-dollar market. The financer is a pension fund, which raised its billions through monthly members’ contributions.